The Alchemist Story Map

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Transcript of The Alchemist Story Map

The Alchemist Story MapBy: Addie Steward-NolanChurchAt the church, the boy slept with his sheep and had the dream about the pyramids for the second time. He also notices how the sheep are connected with him and how he is connected with his sheep.Quote:"It was as if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of the sheep, with whom he had spent the past two years, leading them through the country side in search of food and water"(4).TarifaThe boy had initially gone to Tarifa stop before continuing on to the merchant's, but on his way he remembered the old woman who read dreams and decided to meet with her. After that he also met the King. The King told him about his personal legend and the boy realized that he needed to at least try to follow this dream while still making his own decisions.Quote:"The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. and also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy. To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation"(22).TangierIn Tangier the boy first went to the bar where he met the man who subsequently stole all of his money. At first the boy was very sad and also felt very alone in Africa, but soon he realized that he still had the two stones the King gave him and he was going to be all right because material things do not matter as much. He also knew he was going to be okay because he was going on a quest and he was not just a loser who was robbed.Quote: "As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.'I am an adventurer, looking for treasure,' he said to himself."(42)Crystal Merchant'sWhen he first came to work at the crystal merchant's, the merchant explained how difficult it would be to go to Egypt and the pyramids, but then the boy started paying more attention to omens and began to make more money in the crystal shop ths gave him the hope to realize that unlike the merchant, he needed to realize his personal legend, because that is his destiny.Quote: "The boy picked up Urim and Thummim, and, once again, had the strange sensation that the old king was nearby. He had worked hard for a year, and the omens were that it was time to go." (62)DesertAfter the boy decided to leave the crystal merchant's he embarked on a caravan across the desert to Egypt. In the desert he paid a lot of attention to how the caravan moved and what was going on. This made him even more aware of how the soul of the world is all around us and how everyone a constantly speaking the language of the world in their actions and thoughts. Quote:"Once again he was experiencing the language without words... the universal language." (77)The OasisAt the Oasis, the boy met Fatima. When he met her he truly realized how powerful omens were. It was all because of them that he had met her. He also found that the most imortant aspect of the language of the world was love, as he was feeling towards Fatima without even speaking to her.Quote: "When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all of the world spoke-- the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love." (92)Meeting the AlchemistWhen the boy met the Alchemist for the first time, it was becuase the Alchemist came to him because the boy had read the flight pattern of the hawks. The Alchemist told the boy about how he needed to be careful in both his sights and in traversing the desert. When the boy met the Alchemist for the second time, he taught the boy how to find life, even in the desert by saying, "Life attracts life." Later on he also told the boy how unhappy he would be if he didn't follow through with his personal legend, and the boy finally fully decided that that was his only option if he wanted happiness.Quote: "You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it' because it wasn't true love... the love that speaks the Language of the World." (120)When the Boy Becomes the WindWhen the boy and the Alchemist are approached by the tribesmen, the Alchemist makes a deal that they will let them go if the boy can turn himself into the wind. At first the boy believes that there is no possible way that he could do it. But once he goes up on the hill and begins speaking to the wind, sun, and the Soul of the World, he is able to do it. His main spiritual realization here is that the Language of the World is not just through humans and animals, but it is everywhere which lets him speak it to all things in the universe. He also now knows that everything is the same in that it all came from the same place and anything can become everything.Quote:"I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We are all made by the same hand, and we have the same soul." (146)The PyramidsAt the pyramids, the boy is met by two men who beat him up and take his money. As they are leaving one of the men tells the boy about a dream he had about a treasure buried under a sycamore tree next to a church. In this moment the boy realized that the treasure was at the church where he began at all this time. This seems like a disapointment that he would have to go all the way back, but the boy knew that it was all worth it for the things he learned along the way.Quote:"The boy stood up shakily, and looked once more at the Pyramids. they seemed to laugh at hime, and he laughed back, his heart bursting with joy.Because now he knew where his treasure was."(163)The ChurchWhen the boy got back to the church after realizing it was there all along he spoke to the old man through the Soul of the World and thanked him, even though he could have simply told the boy where the treasure was, he let him find out himself and truly complete his personal legend. Quote: "'You old sorcerer,' the boy shouted up to the sky. 'You knew the whole story. You even left a bit of gold at the monastary so i could get back to this church. The monk laughed at me when he saw me come back in tatters. Couldn't you have saved me from that?' 'No,' he heard a voice from the wind say. 'If I had told you, you wouldn't of seen the pyramids. They're beautiful, aren't they?'"